Andrew Marszal reviews the first series of The Bridge, the suspenseful
Swedish-Danish crime drama starring Sofia Helin.

If there’s one thing watching The Bridge has taught me, it’s that you do not mess with a Scandinavian psychopath.

Over the course of 10 episodes of the Swedish-Danish crime drama, dead bodies accumulate on and around the Baltic-spanning Oresund Bridge as the murderous plan of a twisted genius called the “Truth Terrorist” slowly unfurls. Victims are sawn in half, executions are broadcast live over the internet and, at one stage, homicidal schizophrenics are armed with samurai swords by the mystery killer.

We follow mismatched trans-national cops Saga Noren (Sofia Helin) and Martin Rohde (Kim Bodnia) as they scurry from one crime scene to the next, seemingly powerless to prevent the carefully timetabled bloodbath.

If you think it all sounds a tad far-fetched, I’d tend to agree. Plausibility is stretched to frustrating extremes here by some of the killer’s more baroque inventions. The instructions on flat-pack Ikea furniture seem positively simplistic by comparison to his killing spree. And yet there is something not just compelling, but even charismatic about the series. This in large part thanks to the relationship between detectives Saga and Martin, the autistic Swedish ice queen and roguish grizzly bear of a Dane who are the welcome warm heartbeat of the drama.

Initially bemused by his partner’s blunt indifference to social etiquette – look out for his wonderfully guttural, knowing cackle – Martin is soon driven to distraction by Saga’s tactlessness. But it is touching to watch as she tries to learn from his well-meaning advice. Her attempts at small talk still need some work – “I got my period this morning”, she announces to her coffee-breaking co-workers, apropos of nothing – but bless her, she’s trying.

On top of that there are all the qualities we’ve come to associate with Nordic crime dramas; the suspenseful, glacially-paced plotting and beautiful, ponderous landscape shots are all present and correct. There’s even a startling sartorial choice: forget your Sarah Lund-style knitted jumper, all true Scandiphiles need to immediately find themselves a pair of Saga’s snug-fitting leather trousers.

So while it probably won’t have the same impact as The Killing, if you have a craving for another trip to that land of endless nights, pine furniture and dogged detectives, you could do a lot worse than The Bridge.

The Season 1 box set is released on Blu-ray & DVD on Monday May 21st by Arrow Films’ Nordic Noir label.